


By The Chimney With Care

by bzarcher



Series: Bonds Of Affection [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Established Relationship, F/F, Holidays, Implied Neglect, Important Conversations Happen On Rooftops, Lemon Tea, Lemon Tea Maker, Light Angst, Multi, Other, Past Child Abuse, Polyamorous relationship, Widowtracer, gingerspider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 17:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13104648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher
Summary: Amélie Lacroix finally has things to celebrate at the holidays, but she's noticed that her lovers may not look at things the same way.The Widowmaker may need to take matters into her own hands, this Christmas Eve.





	By The Chimney With Care

**Author's Note:**

  * For [irrelevantLunatic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrelevantLunatic/gifts).



> This is set roughly five months after the end of _Better Angels Of Our Natures_. If you haven't read it yet, the main thing you need to know is that Widowmaker is now a part of Overwatch, Tracer and Emily have been helping her reclaim her life, and they've earned their happiness.

It had been quite a long time since Amélie Lacroix had really thought to celebrate Christmas. The closest she’d come in the last few years was a silent visit to Gérard’s grave, not long before her “investigations” into Tracer and her redheaded lover had transformed into a something more.

The start, though she hadn’t realized it at the time, of her break from Talon.

Of her new life.

Still, despite Emily and Lena happily offering to involve her in the rounds of several holiday social occasions (including a party held at Emily’s office where she’d gotten far less concerned looks about her skin color than she’d expected), it hadn’t taken Amélie very long to notice something that seemed off.

She’d waited to see if there might be an explanation coming - if in some way they’d altered their normal routines because of her presence in their lives - but after no sign of that for several weeks, Amélie decided to approach the matter head on.

She texted Emily to ask if she would be able to meet for lunch at the deli near her office, and they’d barely settled into a booth before she addressed the issue.

“Why do you not decorate the apartment for the holidays?”

Emily blinked, then gave a little ‘ah’ of realization. “I suppose we hadn’t really talked much about that, had we?”

Amélie shook her head. “No. Obviously you do celebrate them - you were both happy to dress up for the party, and Lena seems excited about visiting Gibraltar on Christmas Day.”

Emily nodded. “She is, and we do, yes…but we usually don’t put up a tree, hang stockings, or any of that.” She picked up her coffee and took a sip before speaking again. “I know Lena has told you a bit about her childhood, here and there.”

“A few things, yes.” Amélie frowned as she connected the two statements. “Were the holidays...difficult for her? She told me a bit about her life in foster care…” She let the statement hang, the fingers of her hand not occupied with her own cup curling reflexively into a shooting grip. She had no illusions about how cruel life could be, but the casual way Lena sometimes mentioned ‘fending for herself’ as a little girl, or ‘being on the street for a bit’...  
  
Amélie had become much more comfortable with her own emotions, but those moments never failed to shock her, both for how Lena had seemed to have become accustomed to the cruelty, and the spike of rage she felt in response to it.

“Difficult is a word,” Emily answered, reaching out to take her hand and lightly squeeze her fingers. “Easy, angel…”

Amélie closed her eyes, and through force of long habit made herself take a deep breath and hold it. She gave herself thirty seconds of stillness, then slowly blew the breath out through her nose. “I am sorry, _chérie._ The thought of what she has been through…”

Emily squeezed her hand again before pulling back a bit. “It’s infuriating. I know. But we can’t undo it. We just make sure nothing like that ever happens to her again.” She shook her head. “But...while the details aren’t mine to tell, suffice it to say that when she was in the system, the holidays were very...performative.”  
  
Amélie hummed thoughtfully as she picked up her fork and used a bit of her lingering frustration to spear some of her salad greens. “So you celebrate with others, but leave the apartment as a refuge.”

“Basically, yes.” Emily took a bite of her sandwich and swallowed before she went on. “Please don’t get me wrong - I love this time of year, and so does she, in a lot of ways. But there are times when she really just wants to retreat from it all. Especially in some of the harder years before the Recall.”

“And now…?” 

Emily considered that while she consumed half of her sandwich. “It _has_ been a much better year,” she admitted with a private little smile.  “Still - perhaps you might talk to her, first.”

* * *

Amélie didn’t find a good opportunity to speak with Lena in private for several more days, and the irony of it being Christmas Eve was not lost on her.

Lena had asked if she minded coming along for a patrol of the Row, and they’d ended up on a rooftop, watching the lights of the London skyline through the gently falling snow.

“It’s a pretty night,” Lena murmured as they sat together, her goggles pushed back onto her forehead.

“Very,” Amélie agreed. “Quiet, too.”

Lena giggled softly as she leaned into her. “That you tellin’ me to just shut up and cuddle?”

Amélie snorted and rolled her eyes, her arm coming up to lightly rub at Lena’s back through her jacket. “I would not complain about the cuddling...but there was something I had meant to speak with you about.”

“Oh?” Lena tilted her head so she could make better eye contact, her focus now entirely on their conversation. “What’s that, luv?”

Amélie started to speak and then stopped, trying to find the right way to phrase what she wished to ask. She knew it was a delicate topic, and her conversation with Emily had made it clear Lena might be reluctant to discuss it, but tonight of all nights, she felt she needed to know.

“I had noticed you and Emily do not put up decorations for the holidays in the apartment.” Amélie could feel Lena straighten up slightly against her, but it was a slow, natural movement, not the stiff, jerky motions of shock or alarm. “I spoke to Emily about it, but she thought that it might be best for us to talk privately.”

“Yeah,” Lena sighed softly as she pulled her knees up to her chest. “Yeah, might do.” She went quiet, and Amélie put her hand lightly on her shoulder, silently offering her support and encouragement until Lena was ready to begin.

“The thing you have to understand,” Lena said slowly, “was that it didn’t matter if I was in one of the Homes they set up after the war, or a foster family I’d been placed with by the system. Christmas was always a time when everything had to _look_ good. No matter what it was actually like.”

Amélie sucked in a breath through her teeth. Even before she had become Widowmaker - before she had even met Gérard - she had learned the need to keep up appearances. “So this time of year…”

Lena nodded glumly, her eyes staring past the sky. “It was always a big show. Get a big tree, make sure you’re smilin’ while you help put up ornaments or lights - pretend you don’t see the lads with cameras and holos. Read some words off the prompter. Sit with Santa. Pose for a few snaps. Fancy clothes and sitting around the big table covered in food and sweets. Sing a few carols, bake cookies to leave by the stockings.”

Lena shook her head and laughed, a jagged edge of pain under the mock mirth. “Do you want to know the worst part?” Amélie made a questioning little noise at the prompt, and when Lena answered her she could see tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. “I loved it. When I was little, I didn’t think about what it was all really _for_ , I just enjoyed the bit of sweets and the fancy outfits that we never got to keep.”

“Oh, _ma chérie…_ ” Amélie pulled Lena tight against her, ignoring the clunk of Lena’s accelerator striking the armored panels in her suit. She pressed kisses into her hair and murmured soothing nonsense as her lover wept, until Lena sniffled a few times and shifted around so Amélie could hold her while they talked.

“I got older,” Lena murmured, “and I still liked the decorating. I liked wrapping presents. But I _knew_ what it was really for. I knew that _maybe_ we’d get a couple little presents - nothing like the big boxes under the tree. I knew why the stocking they told me to hang up never had my name on it. I knew we’d eat better for a few days before and after, especially if I hid a few things away when no one was looking...and I knew it wouldn’t last.” She shook her head, her voice ragged. “I _knew_ that none of it was really for me, but I still had to go through all the motions.”

Amélie’s hand found hers, and after she gave it a squeeze, Lena eventually squeezed back. “That must have been very hard, for a heart as open as yours.”

Lena gave a shrug. “For a while I just tried to pretend. Act like I didn’t know any different. Ignore the times when it felt like a bribe, and make a good show. Once I was out on my own...I was a proper Scrooge for a while. Didn’t really want to see or think about it, but...after I got into the Service, I realized I missed some of it. I missed the feeling of having people around. Having something to share with them - real or not.”

“So you started to go to the parties,” Amélie mused quietly. “Did...that make it real?”

“Sort of.” Lena sat up a bit more. “Helped me not just hate it, anyway. I think what started to make it real was people like Em, Winston, Angie...people who I knew loved me. People who didn’t _care_ if I gave them anything - they were just glad I was with them. That I was in their life...and that they were in mine.” She stood, and turned to offer Amélie a hand up. “When I realized I didn’t _have_ to do things...but I still wanted to.”

Amélie let Lena pull her up, and stroked a hand along the curve of her cheek. “And now?”

Lena kissed her palm, then smiled up at her. “Well, you are _absolutely_ a person who loves me. So that’s pretty incredible, honestly. Having you, having Emily...you both make me feel happy to be with you, especially now.”

Amélie pulled her in for a gentle kiss that turned into another embrace, her arms settling against the back of the accelerator. “And I am very happy to be in your life as well. Yours and Emily’s.” 

Lena sniffed happily, and Amélie knew a few more tears were running down her cheeks. “Yeah.”  
  
“So if I wanted to do something...something that will be for _you_ ,” Amélie asked gently, “would it be alright?”

Lena was quiet for a moment, her arms tightening. “You don’t have to, luv. Not just because I had it hard.”

“No,” Amélie agreed. “But I _want_ to. Because I love you, my Lena. Because I can.”

“I...oh…” Lena murmured softly as she stepped back. “Well. That’s alright, then…”

“Good.” Amélie reached out and slipped Lena’s goggles back down into place, and retrieved her rifle from where she’d placed it. “You should get back to Emily. It is getting late.”

Lena tilted her head. “But what about you?”

Amélie slipped her rifle into the set of loops that had been sewn into her long coat to conceal it, and slid the slim profile recon visor off and tucked it into one of the equipment pouches at her belt. “I will be home soon.”  
  
Lena worried at her bottom lip. “Promise?”  

Amélie leaned in and pressed one last kiss to her forehead. “Of course.” Then, she stretched out her arm and fired her grapple, swinging through the snowy London night.

She had quite a bit of work to do.

* * *

The light through the bedroom window woke Lena from a contented sleep, and she sighed happily when she realized that she was in bed with two women, and not just Emily.

Even though she knew Amélie was going to come home, the fact that their girlfriend was still out on her mysterious errand when theyd gone to bed had concerned Lena a bit. She trusted her - _believed_ her, but some little part of Lena just assumed things would go wrong, this time of year.

Emily was still curled against her when she opened her eyes, her usual morning bed head even more adorable while she slept, but now she could feel Amélie’s body pressed against her back, arm wrapped snugly around her waist.

Lena wished she could stay like this all morning, but the rumble of her stomach was a reminder that she’d need to eat soon, among other things.

Getting out of bed without waking them up was a challenge, but Lena had pulled it off, and been rewarded by the sight of her girls curled up into each other when she’d come back from the toilet.

She took a moment to appreciate it, then pulled a bathrobe from the closet and belted it on. Some Christmas pancakes sounded like an _amazing_ breakfast.

She made her way out of the bedroom, but instead of heading into the kitchen Lena froze when she reached the living room, and realized that something had changed.

The little pile of presents they’d bought for each other still sat on the coffee table with their pretty paper and shiny ribbons. But there were now a pair of bright red fuzzy stockings on either side of the bookcase, bulging with the telltale signs of smaller gifts inside (and, Lena had a feeling, an orange down in the toe). Each had a snowy white fur ruff at the top, and black and gold thread had been used to carefully embroider “Emily” on one and “Lena” on the other in an elegant and very familiar hand.

Lena took a hesitant step towards the stocking with her name. Fingers trembling just a bit as tears filled her eyes again, she carefully traced the letters of her name, almost unable to breathe.

“This,” she whispered softly, “this...this is for me?”  
  
The answer came from blue skinned arms that wrapped around her waist, and two different mouths as they gently kissed her cheeks.  
  
“Merry Christmas.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to IrrelevantLunatic for commissioning this return to the _Better Angels_ universe!


End file.
